I am considering the complete freeze at the end of the year. I have heard of it, but didn't know that much about it, so thanks for educating me on that. Since I already have the Lifelock plan this year and Equifax alerting every 90 day period, I think it would be excessive at this point. I have churned credit cards a lot for travel miles so it would be an inconvenience, but I anticipate only 2-3 cards per year, so if that is $45, that is still saving a lot of money over $150+. Since I plan to churn a couple of cards this year, and already have the protection service until early next year, I feel that a freeze would be a waste of money this year.
You are supposed to get assistance with the paper work with the ID theft services that I bought.
I have too had free plans in the past, most recently with the ScottTrade compromise, but they all expired.
If anyone is reading this thread and not that knowledgeable about identity theft (besides just a simple credit card theft) I would recommend doing some research so you aren't caught with your pants down if it happens to you like I did.
I agree that actual ID theft isn't that common compared to CC theft. I once had someone try to sign up for a WebCam Girls site with my credit card number. I do know of 2 people that had ID theft, one had a bunch of cards opened in her name, and another was a friend, who's criminal twin brother kept giving his name to the cops.